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+*os_win32.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2004 May 01
+
+
+ VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by George Reilly
+
+
+ *win32* *Win32* *MS-Windows*
+This file documents the idiosyncrasies of the Win32 version of Vim.
+
+The Win32 version of Vim works on both Windows NT and Windows 95. There are
+both console and GUI versions. There is GUI version for use in the Win32s
+subsystem in Windows 3.1[1]. You can also use the 32-bit DOS version of Vim
+instead. See |os_msdos.txt|.
+
+1. Known problems |win32-problems|
+2. Startup |win32-startup|
+3. Restore screen contents |win32-restore|
+4. Using the mouse |win32-mouse|
+5. Running under Windows 3.1 |win32-win3.1|
+6. Win32 mini FAQ |win32-faq|
+
+Additionally, there are a number of common Win32 and DOS items:
+File locations |dos-locations|
+Using backslashes |dos-backslash|
+Standard mappings |dos-standard-mappings|
+Screen output and colors |dos-colors|
+File formats |dos-file-formats|
+:cd command |dos-:cd|
+Interrupting |dos-CTRL-Break|
+Temp files |dos-temp-files|
+Shell option default |dos-shell|
+
+Win32 GUI |gui-w32|
+
+Credits:
+The Win32 version was written by George V. Reilly <george@reilly.org>.
+The original Windows NT port was done by Roger Knobbe <RogerK@wonderware.com>.
+The GUI version was made by George V. Reilly and Robert Webb.
+
+For compiling see "src/INSTALL.pc". *win32-compiling*
+
+==============================================================================
+1. Known problems *windows95* *win32-problems*
+
+There are a few known problems with running in a console on Windows 95. As
+far as we know, this is the same in Windows 98 and Windows ME.
+
+Comments from somebody working at Microsoft: "Win95 console support has always
+been and will always be flaky".
+1. Dead key support doesn't work.
+2. Resizing the window with ":set columns=nn lines=nn" works, but executing
+ external commands MAY CAUSE THE SYSTEM TO HANG OR CRASH.
+3. Screen updating is slow, unless you change 'columns' or 'lines' to a
+ non-DOS value. But then the second problem applies!
+
+If this bothers you, use the 32 bit MS-DOS version or the Win32 GUI version.
+
+When doing file name completion, Vim also finds matches for the short file
+name. But Vim will still find and use the corresponding long file name. For
+example, if you have the long file name "this_is_a_test" with the short file
+name "this_i~1", the command ":e *1" will start editing "this_is_a_test".
+
+==============================================================================
+2. Startup *win32-startup*
+
+Current directory *win32-curdir*
+
+If Vim is started with a single file name argument, and it has a full path
+(starts with "x:\"), Vim assumes it was started from the file explorer and
+will set the current directory to where that file is. To avoid this when
+typing a command to start Vim, use a forward slash instead of a backslash.
+Example: >
+
+ vim c:\text\files\foo.txt
+
+Will change to the "C:\text\files" directory. >
+
+ vim c:/text\files\foo.txt
+
+Will use the current directory.
+
+
+Term option *win32-term*
+
+The only kind of terminal type that the Win32 version of Vim understands is
+"win32", which is built-in. If you set 'term' to anything else, you will
+probably get very strange behavior from Vim. Therefore Vim does not obtain
+the default value of 'term' from the environment variable "TERM".
+
+==============================================================================
+3. Restore screen contents *win32-restore*
+
+When 'restorescreen' is set (which is the default), Vim will restore the
+original contents of the console when exiting or when executing external
+commands. If you don't want this, use ":set nors". |'restorescreen'|
+
+==============================================================================
+4. Using the mouse *win32-mouse*
+
+The Win32 version of Vim supports using the mouse. If you have a two-button
+mouse, the middle button can be emulated by pressing both left and right
+buttons simultaneously - but note that in the Win32 GUI, if you have the right
+mouse button pop-up menu enabled (see 'mouse'), you should err on the side of
+pressing the left button first. |mouse-using|
+
+When the mouse doesn't work, try disabling the "Quick Edit Mode" feature of
+the console.
+
+==============================================================================
+5. Running under Windows 3.1 *win32-win3.1*
+
+ *win32s* *windows-3.1*
+There is a special version of Gvim that runs under Windows 3.1 and 3.11. You
+need the gvim.exe that was compiled with Visual C++ 4.1.
+
+To run the Win32 version under Windows 3.1, you need to install Win32s. You
+might have it already from another Win32 application which you have installed.
+If Vim doesn't seem to be running properly, get the latest version: 1.30c.
+You can find it at:
+
+ http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/pw1118.exe
+
+(Microsoft moved it again, we don't know where it is now :-( ).
+
+The reason for having two versions of gvim.exe is that the Win32s version was
+compiled with VC++ 4.1. This is the last version of VC++ that supports Win32s
+programs. VC++ 5.0 is better, so that one was used for the Win32 version.
+Apart from that, there is no difference between the programs. If you are in a
+mixed environment, you can use the gvim.exe for Win32s on both.
+
+The Win32s version works the same way as the Win32 version under 95/NT. When
+running under Win32s the following differences apply:
+- You cannot use long file names, because Windows 3.1 doesn't support them!
+- When executing an external command, it doesn't return an exit code. After
+ doing ":make" you have to do ":cn" yourself.
+
+==============================================================================
+6. Win32 mini FAQ *win32-faq*
+
+Q. Why does the Win32 version of Vim update the screen so slowly on Windows 95?
+A. The support for Win32 console mode applications is very buggy in Win95.
+ For some unknown reason, the screen updates very slowly when Vim is run at
+ one of the standard resolutions (80x25, 80x43, or 80x50) and the 16-bit DOS
+ version updates the screen much more quickly than the Win32 version.
+ However, if the screen is set to some other resolution, such as by ":set
+ columns=100" or ":set lines=40", screen updating becomes about as fast as
+ it is with the 16-bit version.
+
+ WARNING: Changing 'columns' may make Windows 95 crash while updating the
+ window (complaints --> Microsoft). Since this mostly works, this has not
+ been disabled, but be careful with changing 'columns'.
+
+ Changing the screen resolution makes updates faster, but it brings
+ additional problems. External commands (e.g., ":!dir") can cause Vim to
+ freeze when the screen is set to a non-standard resolution, particularly
+ when 'columns' is not equal to 80. It is not possible for Vim to reliably
+ set the screen resolution back to the value it had upon startup before
+ running external commands, so if you change the number of 'lines' or
+ 'columns', be very, very careful. In fact, Vim will not allow you to
+ execute external commands when 'columns' is not equal to 80, because it is
+ so likely to freeze up afterwards.
+
+ None of the above applies on Windows NT. Screen updates are fast, no
+ matter how many 'lines' or 'columns' the window has, and external commands
+ do not cause Vim to freeze.
+
+Q. So if the Win32 version updates the screen so slowly on Windows 95 and the
+ 16-bit DOS version updates the screen quickly, why would I want to run the
+ Win32 version?
+A. Firstly, the Win32 version isn't that slow, especially when the screen is
+ set to some non-standard number of 'lines' or 'columns'. Secondly, the
+ 16-bit DOS version has some severe limitations: It can't do big changes and
+ it doesn't know about long file names. The Win32 version doesn't have these
+ limitations and it's faster overall (the same is true for the 32-bit DJGPP
+ DOS version of Vim). The Win32 version is smarter about handling the
+ screen, the mouse, and the keyboard than the DJGPP version is.
+
+Q. And what about the 16-bit DOS version versus the Win32 version on NT?
+A. There are no good reasons to run the 16-bit DOS version on NT. The Win32
+ version updates the screen just as fast as the 16-bit version does when
+ running on NT. All of the above disadvantages apply. Finally, DOS
+ applications can take a long time to start up and will run more slowly. On
+ non-Intel NT platforms, the DOS version is almost unusably slow, because it
+ runs on top of an 80x86 emulator.
+
+Q. How do I change the font?
+A. In the GUI version, you can use the 'guifont' option.
+ In the console version, you need to set the font of the console itself.
+ You cannot do this from within Vim.
+
+Q. When I change the size of the console window with ':set lines=xx' or
+ similar, the font changes! (Win95)
+A. You have the console font set to 'Auto' in Vim's (or your MS-DOS prompt's)
+ properties. This makes W95 guess (badly!) what font is best. Set an explicit
+ font instead.
+
+Q. Why can't I paste into Vim when running Windows 95?
+A. In the properties dialog box for the MS-DOS window, go to "MS-DOS
+ Prompt/Misc/Fast pasting" and make sure that it is NOT checked. You should
+ also do ":set paste" in Vim to avoid unexpected effects. |'paste'|
+
+Q. How do I type dead keys on Windows 95, in the console version?
+ (A dead key is an accent key, such as acute, grave, or umlaut, that doesn't
+ produce a character by itself, but when followed by another key, produces
+ an accented character, such as a-acute, e-grave, u-umlaut, n-tilde, and so
+ on. Very useful for most European languages. English-language keyboard
+ layouts don't use dead keys, as far as we know.)
+A. You don't. The console mode input routines simply do not work correctly in
+ Windows 95, and I have not been able to work around them. In the words
+ of a senior developer at Microsoft:
+ Win95 console support has always been and will always be flaky.
+
+ The flakiness is unavoidable because we are stuck between the world of
+ MS-DOS keyboard TSRs like KEYB (which wants to cook the data;
+ important for international) and the world of Win32.
+
+ So keys that don't "exist" in MS-DOS land (like dead keys) have a
+ very tenuous existence in Win32 console land. Keys that act
+ differently between MS-DOS land and Win32 console land (like
+ capslock) will act flaky.
+
+ Don't even _mention_ the problems with multiple language keyboard
+ layouts...
+
+ You may be able to fashion some sort of workaround with the digraphs
+ mechanism. |digraphs|
+
+ The best solution is to use the Win32 GUI version gvim.exe. Alternatively,
+ you can try one of the DOS versions of Vim where dead keys reportedly do
+ work.
+
+Q. How do I type dead keys on Windows NT?
+A. Dead keys work on NT 3.51. Just type them as you would in any other
+ application.
+ On NT 4.0, you need to make sure that the default locale (set in the
+ Keyboard part of the Control Panel) is the same as the currently active
+ locale. Otherwise the NT code will get confused and crash! This is a NT
+ 4.0 problem, not really a Vim problem.
+
+Q. I'm using Vim to edit a symbolically linked file on a Unix NFS file server.
+ When I write the file, Vim does not "write through" the symlink. Instead,
+ it deletes the symbolic link and creates a new file in its place. Why?
+A. On Unix, Vim is prepared for links (symbolic or hard). A backup copy of
+ the original file is made and then the original file is overwritten. This
+ assures that all properties of the file remain the same. On non-Unix
+ systems, the original file is renamed and a new file is written. Only the
+ protection bits are set like the original file. However, this doesn't work
+ properly when working on an NFS-mounted file system where links and other
+ things exist. The only way to fix this in the current version is not
+ making a backup file, by ":set nobackup nowritebackup" |'writebackup'|
+
+Q. How do I get to see the output of ":make" while it's running?
+A. Basically what you need is to put a tee program that will copy its input
+ (the output from make) to both stdout and to the errorfile. You can find a
+ copy of tee (and a number of other GNU tools tools) at
+ http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net or http://unxutils.sourceforge.net
+ Alternatively, try the more recent Cygnus version of the GNU tools at
+ http://www.cygwin.com Other Unix-style tools for Win32 are listed at
+ http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Unix/Win32/
+ When you do get a copy of tee, you'll need to add >
+ :set shellpipe=\|\ tee
+< to your _vimrc.
+
+Q. I'm storing files on a remote machine that works with VisionFS, and files
+ disappear!
+A. VisionFS can't handle certain dot (.) three letter extension file names.
+ SCO declares this behavior required for backwards compatibility with 16bit
+ DOS/Windows environments. The two commands below demonstrate the behavior:
+>
+ echo Hello > file.bat~
+ dir > file.bat
+<
+ The result is that the "dir" command updates the "file.bat~" file, instead
+ of creating a new "file.bat" file. This same behavior is exhibited in Vim
+ when editing an existing file named "foo.bat" because the default behavior
+ of Vim is to create a temporary file with a '~' character appended to the
+ name. When the file is written, it winds up being deleted.
+
+ Solution: Add this command to your _vimrc file: >
+ :set backupext=.temporary
+
+Q. How do I change the blink rate of the cursor?
+A. You can't! This is a limitation of the NT console. NT 5.0 is reported to
+ be able to set the blink rate for all console windows at the same time.
+
+ *:!start*
+Q. How can I run an external command or program asynchronously?
+A. When using :! to run an external command, you can run it with "start": >
+ :!start winfile.exe<CR>
+< Using "start" stops Vim switching to another screen, opening a new console,
+ or waiting for the program to complete; it indicates that you are running a
+ program that does not effect the files you are editing. Programs begun
+ with :!start do not get passed Vim's open file handles, which means they do
+ not have to be closed before Vim.
+ To avoid this special treatment, use ":! start".
+
+Q. I'm using Win32s, and when I try to run an external command like "make",
+ Vim doesn't wait for it to finish! Help!
+A. The problem is that a 32-bit application (Vim) can't get notification from
+ Windows that a 16-bit application (your DOS session) has finished. Vim
+ includes a work-around for this, but you must set up your DOS commands to
+ run in a window, not full-screen. Unfortunately the default when you
+ install Windows is full-screen. To change this:
+ 1) Start PIF editor (in the Main program group)
+ 2) Open the file "_DEFAULT.PIF" in your Windows directory.
+ 3) Changes the display option from "Full Screen" to "Windowed".
+ 4) Save and exit.
+
+ To test, start Vim and type >
+ :!dir C:\<CR>".
+< You should see a DOS box window appear briefly with the directory listing.
+
+Q. I use Vim under Win32s and NT. In NT, I can define the console to default to
+ 50 lines, so that I get a 80x50 shell when I ':sh'. Can I do the same in
+ W3.1x, or am I stuck with 80x25?
+A. Edit SYSTEM.INI and add 'ScreenLines=50' to the [NonWindowsApp] section. DOS
+ prompts and external DOS commands will now run in a 50-line window.
+
+ vim:tw=78:fo=tcq2:ts=8:ft=help:norl: